Is god an angry judge who
tortures helpless sinners ages without end? If hell does exist, where
is it - and can those who are there ever get out? Read here about the
true biblical hell - from one who has been there!

Read here about the true biblical hell-from one who has been there!

by Keith W. Stump

ON SUNDAY, July 12, I went to hell. On that
day Jerusalem's sun stood directly overhead as I paused to recheck my
map. If my bearings were correct, hell's very threshold lay before
me! I had just left the Old City of Jerusalem through the Dung Gate,
one or the eight gates in the old Turkish wall. I had headed west on
the road paralleling the wall, then around the area known today as
Mount Zion. From there I began my descent into the Lower Regions.

The "House of Hades"

The notion that a mortal might actually visit hell and return-has
been a source or fascination to people of almost every age. Since
ancient times, the abode of the dead has been viewed as lying deep
underground, with various en-trances on the earth's surface-through
caverns, volcanoes, underground rivers and the like. Ancient
peoples-Greeks and Romans especially reveled in fanciful accounts of
heroes who dared pass through these fearful portals and into the Dark
Realm.

One of the earliest accounts of such a journey is found in The
Odyssey. It is an ancient epic poem by the Greek poet Homer (8th
century B.C.). Homer writes of the Greek hero Odysseus (Ulysses), the
lost king of Ithaca, who wandered the seas in search of his home for
10 years following the fall of Troy. In desperation, Odysseus
reputedly found his way into the "abode of departed spirits" to learn
from the ghost of a famous seer how he might find his home.

The underworld described by Homer was a shadowy place of dreary
darkness lying beneath the secret places of the earth. Though a place
of gloom, it was not pictured as one of punishment and torture as is
the traditional Christian or Oriental hell.

Homer called the place of the dead the "House of Hades." Hades
(the Romans called him Pluto) was the Greek king of the underworld,
god of death. Eventually, Hades became the common name for the
underworld itself.

The ancient classicists believed that five rivers flowed through
the underworld. The principal one was the Styx, across which the aged
boatman Charon ferried the souls of the dead. (The Styx was an actual
stream that disappeared underground in Arcadia in Greece.)

In the Aeneid, an epic by the Roman poet Virgil, the Trojan
hero Aeneas, fleeing the burning ruins of Troy after the Greek
victory, successfully besought the ferryman Claron for passage into
the infernal region to consult his dead father. (Virgil preferred the
name Tartarus to Hades for the fabled infernal region.) Aeneas
entered the underworld through a cavern at a foul-smelling lake near
Naples in Italy. Descending on a road wrapped in shadows, he
encountered numerous horrors and frightful terrors.

Tartarus (or Tartaros) was a name used by the later classical
writers such as Virgil as another name for Hades. Homer, on the other
hand, described Tartarus as a different place, lying as far beneath
Hades as Hades is beneath the earth. It was in this bottomless pit of
Tartarus, according to classical mythology, that the Greek god Zeus
confined those who had resisted him.

Another hero of ancient Greece, the legendary Hercules, also
reputedly traveled to the lower world. One of his famous Twelve
Labors was to fetch up from Hades the triple-headed, dragon-tailed
dog Cerberus, the feared guardian of Hades' gates.

Many other ancients are said to have made the fearsome journey
into Hades, including Theseus of Athens, Orpheus the musician, the
princess Psyche and the twin Pollux, in search of his dead brother
Castor.

The Inferno

Possibly the best-known "journey" of all is that of Dante
Alighieri (1265-1321), the medieval Italian poet. His travels among
the damned are recorded in The Inferno. It is the first part
of his three-part Divine Comedy, an account of his imaginary
journeys through hell, purgatory and heaven.

Dante is conducted through hell by the spirit of the Roman poet
Virgil. The trip begins on Good Friday, A.D. 1300, in a wooded area
near Jerusalem. Over the gate of hell the two travelers find a
fearful and now famous inscription, in today's words: ABANDON EVERY
HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE.

Dante then witnesses in his imagination the eternal torments of
the wicked. He describes hell as being divided into various levels,
descending conically into the earth. Souls suffer punishments
appropriate to their sins. Hypocrites, for example, wear gowns
brilliant outwardly, but made of heavy lead instead of cloth. They
must bear the weight of them forever. Gluttons are doomed to forever
lie like pigs in a foul-smelling sty under a cold, eternal rain.
Dante's descriptions are vivid--and frightening.

Though Dante's primary purpose in writing the poem was to satirize
persons and circumstances of his day, the theology of his work is
based firmly on the system of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Italian
theologian and philosopher. The Divine Comedy is a relatively
accurate dramatization of medieval Christian theology. Some
simpleminded of Dante's day actually believed Dante had really
visited hell! His work had a tremendous impression and influence on
popular Christian thought.

Concentration Camp?

Dante's medieval picture of hell as a gigantic concentration
camp-a nightmarish place of eternal torment, horrible beyond
imagination, presided over by Satan and his demons-largely represents
the thinking of significant groups of professing Christians to this
day.

The concept of a "hell" can be found in one form or another among
all the world's principal faiths. Multiple billions around the world
have lived and died over the millennia believing in - and in fear of
- a place of eternal torment and punishment. Many today continue to
wonder,

"Is there really a hell?" and "Will I end up there?"
Many are curious about just what hell might be like. It was with
questions such as these in mind that I set out to investigate the
subject - and to make an attempt to actually visit hell!

Three hells!

The starting point for such an investigation can be none other
than the very book from which Christians profess to derive their
doctrine of hell - the Bible! By scrutinizing its pages, one can
strip away the theological trappings of ancient and medieval myth and
fabrication and discover the true teaching on the subject.

One's first surprise is that the Bible speaks of not one but of
three different "hells"! In the widely used King James
Version, three totally different Greek words - words with totally
different meanings-are translated by the one English word hell.
The three words are hades, tartaros and gehenna.

In biblical usage, the Greek word hades - used only II
times in the New Testament - is roughly equivalent to the Old
Testament Hebrew word sheol, meaning grave or pit (compare
Acts 2:27 with Psalm 16:10). Hades may be likened to a hole in
the ground. In the Bible it has nothing to do with fire.

Most modern biblical translators admit that the use of the English
word hell to translate hades and sheol is an
unfortunate and misleading practice.

Why?

Because in seeing the word hell, many readers impute to it
the traditional connotation of an ever-burning inferno - when this
was never remotely intended in the Greek language or in Old English!

In its true biblical usage, hades does indeed refer to the
state or abode of the dead - but not in the sense of spirits walking
around in some sort of "shadowy realm." Hades is simply the abode we
call the grave. All the dead go to this hell.

The Second Hell

The second hell of the Bible, tartaros, is mentioned
only once in scripture - in II Peter 2:4: "For if God spared
not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [tartaroo],
and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto
judgment.

Following their rebellion to unseat God from His throne (Isa.
14:12-14; Rev. 12:4), the archangel Lucifer (now Satan) and a third
of the created angels (demons) were ejected from heaven (Luke 10:18).
They were cast down to tartaros, a place or condition of
restraint that God has imposed on the mutinous angels as they await
ultimate judgment (Jude 6; I Cor. 6:3).

Tartaros, then, is a "hell" that applies only to evil,
rebellious angels or demons. It is interesting that the ancient
Greeks used this word to describe the place in which Zeus confined
the rebellious Titans. Nowhere in the Bible is there any mention of men being put into this particular "hell."

The Third Hell

So far, we have seen that the first hell of the Bible - hades - is
simply the grave. The second hell -tartaros - a place or
condition of restraint for demons. What, then, is the third hell of
the Bible?

Surely, it must be the old fashioned Bible "hell"- the
literal ever-burning inferno, the place of eternal torment of the
damned!

Or is it?

Did you ever notice that the Greek word used by the writers of the
New Testament for this third hell is gehenna? It comes from
the Hebrew Gai Hinnom, meaning "valley of Hinnom."
Hinnom is a deep, narrow ravine located to the south and southwest of
Jerusalem. It is to this hell that I recently traveled. But
what does this valley have to do with the traditional Christian
concept of "hell"? The answer may surprise you!

Lunch in Hell

Gehenna - the valley of Hinnom - is today a relatively pleasant
place. In recent years, grass and even some flowers have taken over
portions of the valley floor, and there are plenty of trees to
provide shade from the scorching sun (see photos on these pages -
{Editor's note: Sorry, pictures not included.}).

I descended into the valley by means of a rocky dirt path. A small
dog - no three-headed Cerberus! - barked briefly, then returned to
scavenging in a small cave near the path. Further on down the valley
two boys were kicking a soccer ball between them.

I sought refuge from the heat of the noon sun under a large tree,
and took out my lunch. A few birds came by for a handout. The
surroundings were not unlike those of a typical city park.

After enjoying a leisurely lunch, I headed up out of the valley
and proceeded unimpeded toward the Jaffa Gate. My memory of the
valley is one of a pleasant and relaxing haven in the midst of a hot
and tiring walking tour of Jerusalem.

Gehenna, in short, is a far cry from the hell of Dante or from
what this valley was like in Jesus day!

The valley was not always such a pleasant place. In the Old
Testament it was a place of abominable pagan rites, including infant
sacrifice. It was there that the apostate kings Ahaz and Manasseh
made their children "pass through the fire" to the god Molech. The
rites were specifically celebrated in Tophet, the "place of
abhorrence," one of the chief groves in the valley

King Josiah of ancient Judah finally put an end to these
abominations. He defiled the valley, rendering it ceremonially
unclean (II Kings 23:10). Later the valley became the cesspool and
city dump of Jerusalem - a repository for sewage, refuse and animal
carcasses. The bodies of despised criminals were also burned there
along with the rubbish. Fires burned continuously, feeding on a
constant supply of garbage and refuse.

Aceldama, the "field of blood", purchased with the money Judas
received for the betrayal of Christ (Matt. 27:8) was also in part of
the valley of Hinnom.

Gehenna-and the Lake of Fire

What, then, does this valley called gehenna have to do with
hell?

Notice. At the end of this age, at the crisis at the end of this
world's civilization, the prophesied Beast of the book of Revelation
- a Satan-inspired political dictator and a miracle-working religious
figure, the False Prophet, working with him will resist the
re-establishment of the government of God by fighting against Jesus
Christ at His Second Coming. Their fate is revealed by the apostle
John: "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet....
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with
brimstone" (Rev. 19:20).

Where will this temporary lake of fire - this "hell" - be?

The prophet Isaiah wrote of this lake of fire prepared for the
Beast: "For Tophet [in the valley of Hinnom] is ordained of old, yea,
for the king it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large, the pile
thereof is fire and wood, the breath of the Lord, like a stream of
brimstone, doth kindle it" (Isa. 30:33).

One thousand years later, Satan himself will be cast into this
rekindled fiery lake where the Beast and False Prophet were cast!
(See Revelation 20:10.)

But what of the wicked who have died over the many millennia? Does
the Bible say that they are now suffering fiery punishment for
their sins in a lake of fire?

Absolutely not!

In the sequence of Revelation 20 - read it for yourself - the
incorrigibly wicked are resurrected to be thrown into the lake of
fire after Satan is cast there! Read it, in Revelation 20:15.

What, then, will become of these wicked? Will they writhe in
flames for eternity?

No!

The wicked will be burned up in the intense heat of the
coming gehenna fire on earth. They will be consumed, annihilated,
destroyed!

This punishment will be everlasting - permanent and final.
The Bible calls it the "second death" (Rev. 20:14; 21:8) - from which
there is no possibility of a further resurrection.

The Bible does teach eternal punishment, but not eternal
punishing.

The prophet Malachi provides a graphic description. "For, behold,
the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea,
and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that cometh
shall burn them up…(4:1). To the righteous, God says that the wicked
shall be "ashes under the soles of your feet . (Mal. 4:3).

IS THERE A HELL?

If hell does exist, where is it-and can those who are there ever get out?

by Herbert W Armstrong

WILL THOSE in hell leave hell
at the time of the resurrection-or are they confined eternally to
hell, so that they shall be UNABLE to take part in the resurrection? What did Jesus mean when he said in John 5:28-29:"... the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will
hear his voice and come forth ... those who have done evil, to the
RESURRECTION OF JUDGMENT" (RSV)If "those who have done EVIL" - the Unsaved - shall come forth in
the RESURRECTION OF JUDGMENT, what is the connection between that
resurrection of the UNsaved, and their being in an eternal hellfire? It's about time we took this question out of hiding, and took a
good look at it! What is the TRUTH?Common Idea of HellFirst, what is the generally accepted common belief in our Western
world about hell? Here's the terse and brief summation of this
popular belief, which I quote from the Encyclopedia Americana: "… As generally understood, hell is the abode of evil spirits; the
infernal regions . . . whither lost and condemned souls go after
death to suffer indescribable torments and eternal punish . . . Some
have thought of it as the place created by the Deity, where He
punishes with inconceivable severity, and through all eternity, the
souls of those who through unbelief or through the worship of false
gods have angered Him. It is the place of divine revenge, untempered,
never ending."Now where, and how, did this popular belief about hell originate? The Encyclopedia Americana states further: "The main
features of hell as conceived by Hindu, Persian, Egyptian, Grecian and Christian theologians are essentially the same. The
Western religious leaders from Roman times through the Middle Ages
borrowed the doctrine of eternal torture from the pagan philosophers.
Certain writers of the Middle Ages had such tremendous influence on
the Christian-professing world, that their writings and teachings
came to be generally accepted and believed, until it became the
doctrine of the Christian-professing world. Among these influential
writers were Augustine and Dante Alighieri.Some years ago, I ran across a book in a large library, titled Dante and His Influence. It summed up the history of the
Christian-professing doctrine of hell. This factual history is
rather amazing! Dante lived A.D 1265 to 1321. Dante, remember, wrote
a tremendously popular book, titled Divine Comedy, in three
parts-"Hell," "Purgatory" and "Paradise."From the PagansNow I quote from the aforementioned book of history: "Of all poets
of modern times, Dante Alighieri was, perhaps, the greatest educator.
He possibly had a greater influence on the course of civilization
than any other one man since his day. [He] wrote, in incomprehensible
verse, an imaginative and lurid account of a dismal journey through a
lurid hell - a long poem containing certain phrases which have caught
the attention of the world, such as,'All hope abandon, Ye, who enter here.' " This had a
tremendous impression and influence on the popular Christian thought
and teaching. His Inferno was based on Virgil and Plato.Dante is reported to have been so fascinated and enraptured by the
ideas and philosophies of Plato and Virgil, pagan philosophers, that
he believed they were divinely inspired. Here is a comment on Virgil,
from the Americana: "VIRGIL, pagan Roman poet, 70-19 B.C.
Belonged to the national school of pagan Roman thought, influenced by
the Greek writers. Christians of the Middle Ages, including Dante,
believed he had received some measure of divine inspiration."Plato was a pagan Greek philosopher, born in Athens, 427 B.C., a
student of Socrates. He wrote the famous book Phaedo, on the
immortality of the soul, and this book is the real origin of
the modern belief in the immortality of the soul.There is the general statement of the popular belief about
hell, and where that belief came from - actually from the
imaginations of pagans who knew not God!What About the Millions of Heathen?In spite of missionaries from the West, actually more than half
of all the people on this earth have never so much as
HEARD the ONLY name by which men may be SAVED - the name of Jesus
CHRIST! Now is there some other way by which men may be saved?
The Bible says there is NOT!That means that thousands of millions of people on this earth have
lived, and DIED, without ever having known anything about Christian
salvation - without SAVING KNOWLEDGE - never having heard the ONLY
name by which men may be saved! Now think what that means! IF all
unsaved go immediately to hell at death - the hell commonly believed
in - then more than HALF of the people who have lived on this earth
have been consigned there - and they are there, now, without ever
having been given so much as a CHANCE to escape it!Ask yourself candidly, do you believe THAT is the plan by which an
all - wise, all - merciful, loving God is working out his purpose
here below?Now what is the TRUTH?We face this alternative: Either the Holy Bible is the inspired
Word of God, BY WHICH THE CREATOR reveals the TRUTH on the
subject, or else we must fling up our hands and confess WE JUST DON'T
KNOW - we are ignorant on the question - because no one has
ever COME BACK from such an ever-burning hell to tell us about it,
and SCIENCE knows nothing about it. We must believe what the BIBLE
says, or we can believe nothing, if we are rational and
honest!Hell Fire in the BibleJesus said in a passage very often quoted: "And if thine eye
offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the
kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into
hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be
salted with salt" (Mark 9:47-49).Now exactly what is this hell fire? This word hell
is an English word. Mark wrote, originally, in the Greek
language. The word originally inspired, which Mark actually wrote,
was the Greek word gehenna, which certainly does refer to
FIRE.But in most passages in the New Testament where the English
word hell is found in our English translations, the original
Greek word was a different word, hades-which does NOT
refer to FIRE at all, but has an altogether different meaning.Incorrectly Translated "Hell"Remember we merely read a translation of the Bible from its
original languages. A leading Bible dictionary, called A
Dictionary of the Bible, edited by James Hastings, says this: "In our Authorized Version the word 'hell' is unfortunately used
as the rendering of three distinct words, with different meanings.
It represents, (1) the 'sheol' of the Hebrew Old Testament, and
the. 'hades' of …the New Testament... It is now an entirely
misleading rendering. especially in the New Testament passages.
The English revisers, therefore, have substituted the original Greek
word 'hades' for 'hell' in the New Testament. In the American
revision the word 'hell' is entirely discarded in this connection. .
. . The word 'hell' is translated (2) as the equivalent of the Greek
word tartaros, (II Peter 2:4; compare with Jude
6), and, (3) as the equivalent of the Greek word 'gehenna.'"Hell is an old English word, and 370 years ago, when the
Authorized Version was translated, the people of England commonly
talked about putting their potatoes in HELL for the winter - a good
way of preserving potatoes - for the word then meant merely a hole in
the ground that was covered up - a dark and silent place - a GRAVE. And now the Greek word gehenna. I quote from Hastings:"Gehenna: the word occurs twelve times in the New Testament. This
term 'gehenna' represents 'the Valley of Hinnom' (Nehemiah 11:30, II
Kings 23:10, etc.). The place was . . . a deep narrow gorge in the
vicinity of Jerusalem, understood to be on the south side.It is repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 19:6,
etc.). It became an object of horror to the Jews, and is said to have
been made the receptacle for bones, the bodies of beasts and
criminals, refuse and all unclean things. The terrible associations
of the place . . . the fires said to have been kept burning in
it in order to consume the foul and corrupt objects that were
thrown into it, made it a natural and unmistakable symbol of dire
evil, . . . ABSOLUTE RUIN. So it came to designate the place of
future punishment."Hell-a Place of DestructionGehenna was a place of DESTRUCTION and DEATH - not a place of
living torture! Jesus was talking to Jews who understood all about
this Gehenna or Valley of Hinnom. Utter DESTRUCTION by fire was
complete. NOTHING was left, but ashes!Every text in the Bible translated from this Greek word gehenna
means complete destruction - not living torture - NOT eternal
LIFE in torment! THE BIBLE says, in Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is
DEATH" - not ETERNAL LIFE in torture. The PUNISHMENT revealed in the
BIBLE is DEATH - the cessation of life. Eternal life is the
GIFT or GOD!Then WHY have we been believing that PUNISHMENT is ETERNAL LIFE in
fire? And WHY have we been believing we already have eternal
life and don't NEED to come to God through Christ to receive it as
HIS GIFT?The PUNISHMENT is DEATH. It is the second death, from which
there shall be no resurrection! The PUNISHMENT is for ETERNITY -
DEATH for eternity - ETERNAL punishment - but NO where does THE BIBLE
say anything about the PAGAN teaching of eternal punishING. It's
eternal punishMENT, not eternal punishING!When Jesus spoke of being cast into "gehenna FIRE," he was using
this expression as an illustration of the LAKE OF FIRE, which THE
BIBLE reveals is to be THE PLACE of this final punishment - this
second DEATH. He referred to Revelation 20:14: "And death and hell
werecast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." THAT fire
will be much hotter than Dante's imaginary HELL!What happens to "Hell"?Do people go at DEATH to the fictitious hell of Dante's
imagination to be TORTURED by flames of fire forever - and
then are they to be brought OUT, to go into a JUDGMENT, to see if God
had made a mistake in having punished them so long in this "hell"? Notice Revelation 20:13-15: "And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them: and they were judged every man according to their
works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in
the book or life was cast into the lake of fire." The LAKE OF FIRE
which JESUS referred to is a place of DEATH, not of eternal life -
the SECOND DEATH - ETERNAL punishment!Notice what Jesus said in Matthew 10:28: ". . . fear him which is
able to DESTROY both soul and body in [GEHENNA]." Here in plain
language JESUS said the SOUL could be destroyed - and that it
would be DESTROYED in the GEHENNA that has been falsely translated by
the English word hell! Gehenna is a place of DESTRUCTION!Again Jesus used this word gehenna as quoted in Matthew
23:33: "Ye serpents," he said to the Pharisees, " . . . how can ye
escape the damnation of [GEHENNA] ?'' - the second DEATH - eternal
PUNISHMENT!The ancient rebellious cities Sodom and Gomorrah suffered, as we
read in Jude 7, the vengeance of ETERNAL FIRE. But they are not still
burning. They were burned up FOREVER - eternal DESTRUCTION!Now what happens in this "hell" - derived from the Greek word gehenna? Let the Holy Word of God answer: "For, behold, the
day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and
all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall
burn them up saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them
neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun
of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go
forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down
the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in
the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 4:1-3). God Is Love - and Justice!God is a God of LOVE - or MERCY, as well as a God of
ABSOLUTE JUSTICE! If he were the vain, angry, unjust god pictured by
the pagans who invented this popular conception of heaven and hell,
then, according to the common belief of the illustration of Lazarus
and the Rich Man, saved mothers up in heaven are hearing the shrieks,
seeing the indescribable AGONY, writhing, of their own lost
children down in hell - actually able to carry on a conversation with
them - yet UNABLE to help them. Would THAT be the heavenly BLISS it
is generally represented? Psalm 37 OUGHT to make plain to us this
matter of heaven and hell. Notice! "For evildoers shall be cut off;
but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For
yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt
diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek
shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the
abundance of peace. The wicked plotteth against the just, and
gnasheth upon him with his teeth. But the wicked shall perish, and
the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall
consume; into smoke shall they consume away. For such as be blessed
of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall
be cut off! The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein
for ever" (Ps. 37:9-12, 20, 22, 29). And notice Psalm 104:35: "Let
the sinners he consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no
more. And now, Isaiah 66:24: "And they shall go forth, and look upon
the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their
worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they
shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."Never to Be Quenched?"Neither shall their fire be QUENCHED." Does that mean burning
forever and never burning up? Try this test: Put a piece of paper in
a pan. Light it with a match. Now, don't QUENCH that fire! Don't put
it out - for that's what "quench" means. Very soon the paper will burn up. Then put it down on the floor and step on it! Now
it's merely ashes under the sole of your feet - precisely as THE
BIBLE plainly says the wicked shall be! In Jeremiah 17:27, God warned
the Jews that Jerusalem would be burned, and the fire would
not be quenched - unless they repented. In Jeremiah
52:13, you read the account of the burning of Jerusalem. That fire
was NOT QUENCHED! It is NOT still burning! Do you know that THE BIBLE
teaches the resurrection of all who die? The apostle
Paul said his HOPE was the hope of the RESURRECTION! As the
resurrection is true doctrine, then the pagan myth of an eternal
TORTURE, beginning at death, is as deceptive as Satan himself! If all
Unsaved - even all who never heard the ONLY name Jesus Christ
- are roasting, screaming, in such a hell, and can never get out, HOW
can there be a RESURRECTION? Thank God! - there is to be a
resurrection to JUDGMENT, as well as a resurrection to eternal life
of the dead IN Christ! Yes, thank GOD, he so LOVED the world - we
NEED not perish, but through Christ we may have EVERLASTING LIFE!

HELL - MAN IDEA VS. THE BIBLE

Is God an "angry Judge" - who tortures helpless sinners ages without end?

by Roderick C. Meredith

YOU HAVE probably never heard where
your ideas about "hell" came from. So open your mind to some
startling truth you may not have understood before!You probably have heard of the idea of a horrifying, nightmarish
place of never-ending torture for lost sinners. Atheists say
religious people use this concept of "hell" as a means of playing
upon the emotions of people who are sincerely trying to find God's
will.But where did they - and where did you - learn these ideas?God's PurposeThe primary reason so many men and organizations of men have a
false conception of hell is that they view it just as an isolated
doctrine. God created man in his own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26).
In the garden of Eden, he told man the way that would lead to eternal
life. Then he told man that going the wrong way - the way of
selfishness and greed - would lead to DEATH (Gen. 2:17). But Satan,
the father of lies (John 8:44), told the woman, Ye shall not surely
die" (Gen. 3:4). "You have an immortal soul." Man has been believing
that lie about the immortal soul ever since!God's purpose is to develop holy, righteous character in man. God
gave ancient Israel his Ten Commandments, "that it might be well with
them, and with their children for ever" (Deut. 5:29).God's decrees are always for man's good. They are not designed as
arbitrary decrees that God uses as an excuse for plunging men into
flames of fire! Notice that God offered Adam and Eve life on the one
hand, and death on the other. Adam and Eve would not have been
offered LIFE if they already were immortal souls. Man was created
mortal and in need of eternal life from God through his Spirit.If man rebelled against God and made himself miserable through
sin, then the kindest thing that God could do would be to let man
die. Then, stubborn, sinning man would be unable to bring any further
misery on himself or others by his wrong ways. He would just cease to
exist, and would thus not interfere with the happiness of others who
sought eternal life. That is why we read that the SOUL that sins
shall die (Ezek. 18:4).But men have disagreed with God and his Word, and have come to
believe in an entirely different reward for the wicked. So, where do
men get their ideas of "hell"?What Is "Hell"?You will be surprised to learn that Jesus Christ himself went to
"hell" when he died! In Peter's inspired sermon on the day of
Pentecost, he said, "He [David] seeing this before spake of the
resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither
his flesh did see corruption" (Acts 2:31).So - according to your Bible - Jesus went to hell!The "hell" where Jesus was for three days and three nights (Matt.
12:40) after his crucifixion is translated from the Greek word hades. Hades simply means "pit" or "grave." When the
Authorized Version of the Bible was made, Englishmen commonly
understood that "hell" could mean a grave, pit or hole in the ground.
They often spoke of burying their potatoes in hell for the winter.
The "hell" where Jesus went was simply the grave - the rock hewn
sepulcher where he was buried. Unless you live until Christ comes and
are changed from mortal to immortal (I Cor. 15:53), you will
go to this same "hell."The second Greek word translated "hell" is tartaros. It is
used only once in the Bible (II Pet. 2:4) and refers to the condition
of restraint of the fallen angels. It never refers to men.Gehenna is the third Greek word translated "hell."
Gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom, was located out-side of
Jerusalem. It was a place where trash, filth and the dead bodies of
animals and despised criminals were thrown. It was like some of our
city dumps today. Ordinarily, everything thrown in this valley was
destroyed by fire - completely burned up.In Jewish thought, this burning, smoking Valley of Hinnom was
associated with the future punishment of the wicked. So it was
natural for Jesus and the apostles to use the word gehenna -
derived from the Valley of Hinnom - when referring to the lake of
fire, which will be the fate of the wicked. This lake of fire is
described in Revelation 20:14-15.These, then, are the three Greek words that are translated into
the word "hell" in our Bibles. In the Hebrew there is only one word
that is translated "hell." That word is sheol. It corresponds
to the Greek word hades, meaning the grave, or pit.Worms In Hell?A familiar passage is found in Mark 9:43-48. Jesus was showing
that it was better to rid ourselves of anything - even a job, an
association or a habit that we loved as much as our right arm - than
to let it cause us to disobey God and thus be cast into hell
(gehenna), "into the fire that never shall be quenched: where
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."The "hell" to which Jesus referred was gehenna - deriving
its name from the Valley of Hinnom. There were ledges along the edge
of this valley.Smith's Bible Dictionary gives a description of this
valley. If anything, especially a dead body, landed on a ledge above
the fires, it would be devoured by many worms or maggots that were
kept alive by the animal and vegetable substances deposited there. It was to these worms that Christ was referring when he said,
"Their worm dieth not." But Christ didn't mean that each individual
worm continued to live forever! He wasn't teaching the immortality of
worms!Actually, these worms, or maggots, are the larvae that develop
from eggs deposited by flies. They continue for only a few days in
this larva form, then pupate and finally emerge as flies, later
dying.The Greek word that was inspired and translated into the English
word "worm" in this passage simply means a grub or maggot. It is a
collective expression for all the worms that devour dead matter.
These worms do not die, but pupate and become flies. Later, these
flies like all other animals will return to the dust from which they
come. "All are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Eccl. 3:20). The "fire that never shall be quenched" is a description showing
that God will permit nothing to put out or quench this fire. It will
simply burn up the bodies of the wicked. Naturally, those who preach
"hell fire" use this passage to frighten unthinking people into
believing that sinners will suffer eternal torment in hell fire -
evidently with worms chewing on them at the same time!Whom Do You Fear?Instead of fearing what some misguided preacher may tell us about
hell, let us see what Jesus said to fear. "And fear not them which
kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him
[God] which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna]" (Matt. 10:28). Here we find the clear statement
that God can destroy both our body and soul in Gehenna, or the lake
of fire. There is no mention made of burning forever and ever, and
yet never quite burning up. But it does speak of destruction.Recall that God told Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed him, they
would surely DIE. Their lives would be cut off - destroyed. Jesus
told his disciples: ". . . wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction [not eternal life in "hell fire"], and
many there be which go in thereat" (Matt. 7:13). Then he said, "Every
tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into
the fire" (verse 19). What happens to a tree when it is cast into the
fire? Why, it is burned up - destroyed.Speaking of the harvest of the righteous and wicked, Jesus said he
would tell the reapers, "Gather ye together first the tares, and bind
them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn"
(Matt. 13:30). The tares, of course, refer to the wicked, and the
wheat to the righteous. When literal tares are burned, they are
BURNED UP. What about these types of sinners that are burned up? Was
Jesus using wrong examples, or did he mean what he said?The obvious answer is Jesus meant exactly what he said. The fate
of the wicked will be Gehenna, or the lake of fire that the Bible
mentions. But this fire is a lot hotter than most people think!The wicked are human, mortal beings. Flesh and blood is subject to
burning up. When the wicked are cast into the lake of fire, they will
be burned up - destroyed!From Genesis to Revelation, life and death are set as the two
opposites - the fate of the righteous and the wicked respectively.
God told Adam, ". . . dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return"
(Gen. 3:19). No mention here of being plunged immediately into "hell
fire." The reward for disobedience was death.Later, David wrote of the wicked, ". . . into smoke shall they
consume away" (Ps. 37:20).Still later, Malachi speaks of the fire that will burn the wicked:
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the
proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day
that cometh shall BURN THEM UP, saith the Lord of hosts, that it
shall leave them neither root nor branch . . . . And ye shall tread
down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
in the day that I shall do this . . ." (Mal. 4:1, 3).Can anything be plainer than that the wicked are to be burned up -
completely destroyed? That is why Jesus said, ". . . fear him which
is able to DESTROY both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28).Wages of SinThe apostle Paul summed up the whole matter of man's reward for
sin when he wrote, "For the wages of sin is DEATH; but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). If
you believe this scripture means what it says, then you know the
truth. But, unfortunately, theologians often fail to understand what
Paul said.Could anything be more clear than this scripture? The wages, or
reward, of sin is shown to be death, and eternal life is stated to be
a gift from God - not something we already have.Death means just that - the cessation of life and consciousness -
total oblivion! In spite of the vain attempt of many preachers to
make death mean separation from God, you cannot reconcile this with
Scripture. Neither does death mean eternal life in nightmarish
torments of an imagined "hell."This "hell-fire" doctrine that is used to frighten so many
ignorant human beings is a LIE. Its author is the father of lies -
Satan the devil! If you are one who has gullibly swallowed that
doctrine and suffered mental agonies from the fear of a man-made
"hell-fire," God help you to study all the scriptures on this subject
and find his truth.But remember that the penalty of death will be caused by fire.
Paul warns in Hebrews 10:26-27:"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a
certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which
shall DEVOUR the adversaries."This is a FEARFUL WARNING to those who know God's truth and still
refuse to obey it! This is not an unreasoned fear of a harsh, stern
God who delights in punishing sinners. Rather, it is the sober
realization that unless we surrender to God's will and his way of
love, and refuse to let anything turn us aside, God will take away
the life he has given us.Yet this same passage shows God's infinite LOVE. He will not take
away people's lives because of ignorance or weakness, but because
they willfully and knowingly refuse to obey their Creator. This
rebellious attitude in itself would bring them, and those about them,
nothing but eternal trouble and misery if they were allowed to live
forever. So God in his mercy and supreme wisdom has decreed the
penalty of DEATH for such people.The Lake of FireWhen the Bible says, "The wages of sin is death," it is not
referring to the death we see around us every day. This death is
referred to in I Corinthians 15:22, which says, "In Adam all die,"
and in Hebrews 9:27, which says, "And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment." These passages describe
the first death - a death caused by a person wearing out physically
and from which he can be resurrected.Revelation 20 shows the time of later resurrections, and when the
wicked are cast into the lake of fire. Study it carefully. The first
three verses describe Satan being bound for a thousand years, and the
resurrected saints, who are in the first resurrection, ruling the
world under Christ.

So according to your Bible - Jesus went to hell! . . . where
Jesus
went was simply the grave - the rock hewn sepulcher where he was
buried.

The first part of verse 5 is an inserted thought that tells us,
"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years
were finished." So the heathen, the atheists and all who were not
called to a full knowledge of God's truth, are not resurrected until
after the thousand-year reign of Christ. This is the second
resurrection. For them the book of life is opened for the first time
(Rev. 20:11-12).But just before then, at the end of the thousand years of peace in
the world tomorrow, the devil will go forth to deceive the nations
who were not imbued with God's Holy Spirit. He will be overcome and
"cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the
false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and
ever" (verse 10). Notice that the word are is in italics in
the Authorized Version. It is an inserted word to complete the
meaning, and should be rendered "were cast" - because the beast and
the false prophet are human beings who will be burned up when they
are cast into the lake of fire just before the thousand years begin
(Rev. 19:20).At this point, you may be thinking about the parable of Lazarus
and the rich man - and wondering if the rich man wasn't pictured as
being forever in eternal torment. He definitely was not! But he was
in mental torment as the fire of Gehenna was about to end his
life. For the full and interesting proof of this, write immediately
for our free booklet titled Lazarus and the Rich Man.Now continuing in Revelation 20, notice in verse 13 that the
remaining dead are raised in a third resurrection and are judged
"according to their works." These are the wicked who were called in this life and who rebelled. Verse 14 continues, "And death
and hell [hades, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death." Here is a plain statement revealing that
Gehenna, or the lake of fire, IS the SECOND DEATH.Truth Makes FreeThe Bible reveals a very different God from the one so often
preached today.It seems that men either try to do away with God's power
altogether by preaching as though God had gone "way off' and left man
to work things out according to human reason, or they go to the
opposite extreme and look upon God as an "angry Judge" who is just
waiting for an opportunity to punish helpless sinners throughout all
eternity.The Creator of heaven and earth is now permitting man to sin and
suffer in order to learn certain lessons. If man will accept God's
truth as it is revealed, learn these lessons God intended, he will be
given eternal life in God's kingdom. But if he stubbornly persists in
going the way that leads to wretchedness and misery for himself and
others, God in his mercy will cut off his life by casting him into
the lake of fire - which is the second death.Untold suffering and mental anguish have been caused by the false
doctrine of an angry God plunging everyone who did not follow certain
denominational teachings into a terrifying "hell fire" of everlasting
torments.

Most people have been bound by denominational teachings, and too
few have been willing to study all the scriptures on the subject to
see what the Bible really says. But Jesus said of those who were
willing to continue in his word, "And ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).